Improvement in automatic feed-water device for boilers



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JOB A. DAVIS, OF WAT`ERTOWN, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 86,372, dated February 2, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN AUTOMATIC FEED-WATER. DEVICE FOR BOILERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all vwhom it 'may conce/rn:

Be it known that I, JOB A. DAVIS, of Watertown, in the State of NewYork, have invented certain Improvements in Mechanism for Feeding atertov Steam-Boilers; and i do hereby declare that the following, taken inconnection with the drawings which accompany and form part of thisspeciiication, is a description of my invention, suliicient to enablethose skilled in the ait to practise it. v

My invention has for its object the feeding or supplnying of water toboilers by a self-acting apparatus, of such a character, and having sucha mode ofoperation,` that the mere weight of the water required forfeeding shall oi' itself actuate it, and that it shall need noindependent power or engine with pumps to force the water into theboiler; and to this end,

It consists in a novel construction and arrangement ofareservoir,(having, as may be desired, either one or two water-chambers,) arrangedto swing upon the supply-pipe, so that the water flowing into thechamber shall cause the reservoir hto descend, and in so doing open thewater-passage-irom it to the boiler, and a steam-passage from the boilerto the chamber, to equalize the pressure.

It consists, further, in a provision for adjusting the extentof downwardmovement of the tank or reservoir, to graduate the rapidity of supply ofwater to the boiler; in a provision for 'adjusting the period ofdescent` of the tank, in order to graduate, at will, the quantity ofwater desired for a single injection; and in certain details ofconstruction hereinafter specied.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an apparatus for practising myinvention, of which- Figure 1is.a vertical section through line 1 1 ofFigure' 2 is a vertical section through line 2 2 of' Figure 3 is avertical section through line 3 3 of fig. l; and

Figure 4 is a vertical section through line 4 4 of iig. l.

Similar letters indicate similar parts in the diiierent figures.

A is a vertical boiler, of any known form of construction, myimprovements being shown as applied thereto.

B is a tube or conveyer, through which the water.

from any ordinary penstock., reservoir, or other source of supply, isconducted to and through my apparatus, and thence to the boiler.

C is a plug, fitting snugly and arresting the passage of water throughthe tube, for a purpose hereinafter stated.

D is a diaphragm, preferably forming part of the plug G, and serving todivide that port-ion of the tube B between the outer casing'of theboiler and the solid plug C, into two separate compartments.

E is a water-conveying tube, for conducting water from that compartmentof the supply-tube which lies beneath the partition or diaphrn gm D, andthus supplying the boiler, whilst F is a similar but shorter tube orpipe, for the passage of steam from the boiler to the compartment lyingabove the partition D, and thence into the tank or reservoir G, for apurpose and in a manner hereinafter more fully described.

This tank is preferably formed substantially as shown in the drawings,hav-ing two compartments, separated by a central partition,'H.

It is also provided with a tube or sleeve, I, of such size as to admitof placing the reservoir upon the tube, and permit the same to rockthereon.

K is a spiral spring upon. the tubei B, and serving, by means of nut L,to allow of givingrany required de. gree of pressure against thereservoir, whose other side abuts against a shoulder, M, on tube B,thispressure regulating thel facility with which the reservoir G may rockupon its support.

N N' are pipes, serving to convey the intlowing water from supply-tube Bthrough a small oriiice, (one or more, as may be desired,) marked 1, tothe chambers 2, 3, alternately' ofthe reservoir G, the particular one ofthese chambers which shall for the time being receive the water beingdetermined by the position of the one indicated by black and the otherby red lines, the former allowing the water to pass from B, throughoriice 1 and pipe N, to chamber 2, and the latter allowing it to passthrough the same orifice and pipe N', to chamber 3.

O O are similar pipes on the opposite side of reserinto the chambers 2,3, of the reservoir; these pipes O O' communicating, by means of properorices, 4 5,

the steam-pipe F. (See gs. l and 3.)

Other orifices, 6, 7, are also made in tube B, and corresponding ones insleeve I, to allow the exit of water alternately from chambers 2 an'd 3into the space beneath diaphragm D, and thence down pipe E, for thesupply of the boiler. (See figs. l and 4.)

l? is a cross-bar or fra-me, secured to the boiler for the purpose ofreceiving adjusting-screws Q Q', the object of which is to control atwill the distance that the reservoir G may descend in its oscillations.

Instead of constructing the reservoir in two compartments, as abovedescribed, it may be formed with but one compartment, or water-chamber,but in such case, in order to allow its proper action, this chamberwould be placed on one side of the centre of its mo tion o1'oscillation, and its other arm would be weighted ber is empty, theweight of the arm should be suicient to overcome the weight of thechamber, and also the friction created by the pressure of spiral springK. When the chamber is lilled toa determined degree, it

reservoir; tig. 2 showing the rescrvoirin two positions,

voir G, to admit steam` at proper periods, alternately,

with the chamber above diaphragm D, and thus with suiiicieutly to act asa counterpoise. When the chammust be then heavy enough to overcome theweight and spring, and cause the chamber to descend..` The action wouldthus be similar 'to that of the reservoir with two compartments, but itwould not be as desirable a construction, for the reason that it wouldnot afford so constant a supply of water into the boiler.

The operation of my apparatus is as follows: Water from any source ofsupply higher than the reservoir G being admitted into tube B, and(reservoir G being in the position shown in black lines in iig. 2) ndingno outlet except through orifice l, it enters pipe N, and so fillschamber 2, uniil the weight of the water overcomes the pressure ofspring K andthe weight of the other chamber. This tilting of thereservoir closes the inlet-hole l, by which chamber 2 was just supplied,and opens two others, namely, theinlet-oriiice of pipe N', which is thusbrought into coincidence with ritice l, (see red-lines in lig. 2,) andso admits water -into chamber 3, and the steam-inlet'l, by which steamfrom` the boiler is admitted into the water-charged chamber 2 at thesame time an outlet is opened for the discharge of the water fromchamber2, through oritice 6, into pipe E, to supply the boiler. .Theconverse of this action takes place when chamber 3 has become 'lledenough to cause it to descend, steam from the boiler being admittedthrough pipe O and orice 4: whenever the water-charged chamber 2 of thetank or reservoir occupies the position shown in figs. 3 and 4, and thesteam being admitted through pipe O' and orifice 5 whenever thewater-charged chamber 3 occupies the position shown in black lin-es iniig. 2 The effect of this inward flow of steam into the tan i-chambersim ultaneously with the flowing out therefrom and into the boiler ofthewater with which it is charged, is that :it -equalizes the pressure ofthe steam upon the water,4 bot-h above it and below it, the steam whichis iiowing vinto the tank overcoming and neutralizing the resistancewhich would otherwise be offered by the steam Within the boiler againstthe entrance of water therein.

It will thus be perceived that an immense saving results from myappaaratus, inasmuch as uo independent power or engine is required toforce water into the boiler against the pressure of the steam, theleading principle of my invention being that the steam itself shall,under the varying conditions of feeding, be so applied on one side ofeach charge of water, whether large or small, as to meet and reducepractically to zero the pressure of the steam on theother side of theWater, thus holdlng it, in fact, tu equilibrio.

When it is considered that above ten-horse power is usually needed toforce Water intoa boiler against the pressure of steam at one hundredand thirty pounds to the square inch, the value of an apparatus whichwill feed properly a boiler without any power whatever, beyond the merepressure in any supply-pipe, can hardly be overestimated.

In order to'adjust and determine the rapidity with which thewater shallflow into the boiler, I make use' of the adji'isting-screws Q, whichlimit the descent of either arm of the tank in its oscillations, andthereby permit the iniiowing and outiiowin g orilices to be openedentirely, asl when the arms descend to their lowest points, or allowsthem to be partially opened only, as -When the screws restrict to thedegree desired. the downward movement of the tank. In this Way thesupply is readily graduated to meet the capacity and the wants of theboiler, for when the descent is greatest1 the ori- .be great, the actionwill be slow, and 'vice versa. By

this means we can measure the lsupply in accordance withthe size o f theboiler or amount of hre-surface, and may supply as little as possible,provided it be sufficient.

Claims.

l. The combination of the main supply-tube, and its inlet andoutlet-orices, with the oscillating reservoir7 and its inletandoutlet-water orices and steamorices, the parts being constructedsubstantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with the oscillating reservoir and its water-supplytube, of the plug and diaphragm G D, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with an oscillating water-tank, of inlet andoutlet-Water orifices, or passages, and; a provision for graduating, atwill, the degree of downward swing of the tank, to vary the rapidity ofthe supply of water to the boiler, substantially as described.

4. The combination, With the supply-tank, of the adjustablepressure-spring, to graduate .at will the quantity of water desired fora single injection.

5. The combination'of the adjusting-screws Q with the tilting-tank,substantially as set forth. Y

JOB A. DAVIS.

Witnesses JOHN -J. HALSTED, FRANKA HAMILTON.

